Into the Fire
by CPD5021George
Summary: A short Upstead piece. After an exhausting week, Hailey Upton wants to spend the evening home alone. What happens when Jay Halstead wants to talk.


_**Into the Fire**_

_**Another short Upstead piece – inspired by a recent interview with Jesse Lee Soffer and Tracy Spiridakos about an Upstead relationship. This bit just wanted to be written while I'm working on another longer story.**_

* * *

It was Friday afternoon, and everyone in Intelligence was exhausted. The unit had survived yet another tough case, and they were standing together in the office waiting for the weekend to start.

"Want to meet up at Molly's later on?" Adam asked the others.

Kevin nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. What about you?" he looked around, his gaze resting briefly on Kim, then on Vanessa Rojas.

Kim absentmindedly murmured ,"Yes, sure."

Vanessa looked at Hailey, with whom she still lived, her eyebrows raised.

Hailey shrugged. "Sure, you go," she said, and added: "I'll stay home, though."

"Hey, I can stay, we can chat." Vanessa immediately offered.

"No, no. Just join the others. I don't mind spending some time alone." Hailey insisted.

"OK," Adam said. "What about you, Jay?"

Jay flinched, as if he hadn't listened at all. "Yes, ahem, no. You know, I'd rather not come."

"Suit yourself," Adam just answered.

Hailey eyed her partner suspiciously. She had noticed over the last few days that Jay seemed to be a bit off. What was going on with her partner?

She wanted to stay home because of the case. It had gotten to her more than she liked. She would be over it soon enough, but right now she didn't care for much company.

But Jay? For him the case hadn't been anything out of the ordinary. A wife-beating turned homicide. And still he had been uneasy lately. Was there anything going on? If yes, what? Anything she, as his partner, should know about? She would have to check in on him later, perhaps tomorrow. If Jay needed someone to talk to, she would be there. But tonight, she would cherish some quiet time alone. As much as she liked Vanessa, she wasn't used to living with someone else, especially someone so active and chatty. And, she admitted to herself, someone she didn't know all that well.

* * *

They all left the office together, everyone went to their cars. Vanessa still chatted with Kevin. Hailey was on her way to her own car, her thoughts wandering, when she suddenly noticed that someone was walking next to her.

Jay.

She leaned against the car, looked at him. "Jay?"

He smiled at her reluctantly. "Hailey," he started, slightly rough voice.

"What is it, Jay?" she asked softly.

"Hailey, do you insist on some alone-time tonight?" he asked, trying to be all cool, but failing miserably. "Or could I interest you in some ridiculously expensive whisky with me?"

"I wouldn't mind at all, Jay," Hailey answered. "You know, you don't have to ask, don't you?"

"Yeah," he smiled at her. "But you said you wanted to be alone."

"Jay, that never applies to you," Hailey stressed the word never, grinned at him. "I thought you knew. So… shall I sent you a text when Rojas is gone?"

Jay grinned back. "OK, so we're sneaking behind our unit's backs?"

Hailey laughed out loud. "Might be for the best."

"See you later then."

"And don't forget the whisky."

Jay laughed and slowly strolled away when he saw Vanessa approaching Hailey's car.

"What was that?" Vanessa asked Hailey.

"Oh, just some partner talk," Hailey evaded the question. She wasn't quite sure what _that_ was, either, she admitted to herself, though.

Vanessa mockingly rolled her eyes. "I see. I won't ask any further."

* * *

Back at home Hailey took a long shower, thinking about the day, the week, her partner. Afterwards she dressed in comfortable sweat pants and a t-shirt. For some reason she didn't want Vanessa to know Jay would be coming over. She couldn't put a finger on it, but she wanted to keep this between Jay and herself, at least until she knew what was going on with him.

And Jay – Jay would be fine, the two of them had shared enough; there was no need for her to worry about what to wear when he was around. Not that he ever looked bad, she thought. He always looked perfect, so it wouldn't hurt if she made an attempt to... but hey, what was that? She should not go that way…

Vanessa was ready to leave, when Hailey came into the living room. She was all dressed up, Hailey noticed, looking as fresh as if she just came from a long relaxing holiday, instead of a gruesome week on the job.

"And you are really ok with me leaving?" Vanessa asked. "If you need someone to talk or to just watch TV with, you know I'm here."

Hailey smiled weakly. "I'm totally fine, Vanessa. Have fun."

As soon as Vanessa had left, Hailey sent the promised text to Jay. "Vanessa's gone, you can come." Afterwards she shook her head, laughing. Just like a teenager, she thought. The parents are gone, now let the party begin.

* * *

Jay was standing at her door after what seemed like only five minutes. When Hailey opened the door, he waved the bottle of whisky in front of her. As promised it was a good and expensive one. With an exaggerated gesture, Hailey opened the door fully, stepped aside to let him come inside.

Without even talking about it, they both headed for Hailey's kitchen. Jay grabbed two glasses, and they sat down at her kitchen counter, next to each other.

Jay poured each of them a generous whisky, they lifted the glasses, smiled – at the totally normal feeling of all this.

For a while they sat there, quietly drinking, relaxing.

"So, how are you holding up?" Jay asked when he put the glass down. He knew cases like their latest one were tough on her. Whenever it was about domestic violence, Hailey worked extra hard, as if to exorcise her own demons. He didn't know her complete story, but what he knew was enough to tell she was exhausted.

"I'm ok," Hailey said. "I just feel like I could sleep for a whole week."

"Should I leave?"

Hailey shook her head, "No, absolutely not, Jay. It's good that you're here."

He gave her his familiar soft smile. And almost automatically Hailey started talking. She told Jay what she thought about the case, why it was so important for her to make this an airtight case. Jay listened, just looked at her and listened.

Suddenly Hailey stopped talking, stared at him. "That's not why you're here," she stated, put her hand on his arm. "I've been rambling on, and you..."

"I – what?"

"Jay, something has been going on with you lately." Hailey said. "And you insisted to come here tonight. Spill it. I can listen just as well as I can talk." She flashed him her big, heart-warming smile.

Jay looked at her, then stared into his glass.

"It's nothing, Hailey. I'm here to listen."

"Yeah, right," she smirked. Well, if he didn't want to talk, that was fine with her. She poured herself another whisky, looked to the side, when suddenly he stood close to her.

"Hailey," hoarse voice. "It's…"

She stared at him, unable to move, when he came even closer, and when his lips met hers.

She was too surprised at first to do anything, and then her body reacted, she leaned into his kiss. It felt so good. But after a split second, her brain kicked in, and she broke the kiss, stepped back hastily and put up her hands in front of her body defensively. This couldn't be happening.

"Woah, what was that?" she asked, her heart racing. "What are you doing?"

Jay pulled back, panicking look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Hailey," he stuttered. "I... I shouldn't... I'll go now." He turned around, grabbed his phone from the countertop and was gone before Hailey could say anything.

He left a bewildered Hailey.

What had just happened? Jay had kissed her. Her partner. Her best friend. Her...

* * *

Jay was outside within seconds – completely beat. He had taken a chance and lost. Crashed and burnt. How could he have been so wrong?

He had made a fool of himself. He ran to his car, jumped inside and drove home much too fast. He was an idiot. How could have ever thought that Hailey, amazing, beautiful, caring, sweet and overall perfect Hailey, would reciprocate his feelings? Now he had ruined their partnership and their friendship in one smooth move. Well done, Halstead! He felt like the biggest fool on the planet.

He parked the car, ran inside, threw the jacket on the floor, phone on the table, and went right to bed. Not that he would be able to sleep. He wanted to hide from the world, pull the covers up, and never go outside again. Yes, he was being dramatic – he was very much aware of that. But right now, he wanted to be dramatic, he wanted to feel bad. Right now, he wanted to spend the weekend in bed, hoping that by Monday morning Hailey would have forgotten everything and they could go back to normal. That, of course, wouldn't happen. He fought the urge to get up and drown his sorrows and his embarrassment in alcohol. He stayed in bed, stared at the ceiling.

* * *

Hailey stood in her kitchen, still stupefied, more than anything, about what had just happened. Jay had kissed her. Jay!

She was angry. Why had he done that? How could he risk their friendship like that?

But she wasn't angry only because of what Jay had done. To be perfectly honest, she was angry because she had pushed him away.

At least Jay had the courage to do something. He had done something about this tension that had been lingering between the two of them for months now.

Why had she been so harsh?

Annoyed, she emptied the glass. The whisky burned in her throat and her stomach. So now she had her evening alone. Perfect.

She took Jay's bottle of whisky and her glass, and moved to the couch. Put both the bottle and the glass on the table, sat down and curled up on the couch. She felt worse than she would have thought. The anger made place for a feeling of irritation, and in the end sadness. Hailey closed her eyes, and the scene from earlier kept reappearing in her mind. How Jay looked at her, how close he was, how he kissed her. How his lips felt on hers, soft and warm, how good it felt, how right. And how she had pushed him away. The hurt in his eyes.

And one thought crept into her mind: Jay must be feeling awful. Poor, sweet, wonderful Jay.

Yes, he was her partner, but he also was her best friend, and so much more.

Determined, she stood up. She couldn't let the day end like this.

She needed to talk to Jay.

As she had had too much alcohol for driving, she called a cab, grabbed phone, key and jacket, and was of her door before she could change her mind.

The cold air helped her calm down a bit. She wasn't even sure what she was going to say or do, but she knew that she needed to go and see Jay.

* * *

Of course, the cab took what felt like hours to come, and by the time she arrived at Jay's place, Hailey wanted to turn right back home again.

Still, she walked up the steps hastily before she could change her mind and rang the doorbell.

No reaction.

She pounded on the door. "Jay, open up! Please, Jay."

Inside his apartment, Jay heard the doorbell. He had no idea who could be at his door in the middle of the night. Usually he would have assumed it could only be Hailey, but after what he'd done earlier, that was not likely.

Then he heard her calling out to him and banging at the door.

What now?

For a moment he considered ignoring her, but he knew all too well that he couldn't do that. So he got up and headed to the door.

Finally, Hailey saw that the light was being switched on. Jay was home.

"Jay, please open the door," she said, softly pleading.

The door opened, and Jay stood in front of her. Pale, red eyes, disheveled hair, wearing only boxers.

Hailey swallowed hard, then softly pushed him inside and followed him, closed the door behind herself.

"Jay, I'm so, so sorry," she said. "I… I shouldn't have pushed you away." She stared at him, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I am sorry, Hailey," Jay answered. "I was wrong. I shouldn't have done that. Is there any chance we can go back to being partners and friends?"

Hailey looked at him, his pale face, the sad green eyes. No, she wouldn't let him suffer any longer.

She put a hand on his bare chest, noticing briefly how amazingly smooth and soft his skin was, and how she could feel his heartbeat.

"Jay, stop," she whispered. "You caught me off guard. I didn't expect this to happen."

Jay's face lightened up a bit.

"Hailey, I…"

"Shh, Jay," Hailey said, staring into his eyes. She pushed him further inside his apartment, so that he came standing with his back to the wall. Then she pulled his head down to hers and kissed him.

Jay was too surprised to react at first, and Hailey pulled back, looking at him. They were standing close to each other, and suddenly Hailey was very much aware of the fact that Jay didn't exactly wear a lot of clothes. She blushed, then tilted her head. And now Jay relaxed a bit, understood. Hailey had just kissed him.

A tentative smile appeared on his face, and very slowly he lowered his head down to hers again, kissed Hailey. This time she didn't push him away.


End file.
